Maputo, 29 May (AIM) – An angry crowd on Monday night attacked a police station and the locality headquarters of Maciana, in the Manhica municipality in Maputo province.
According to a report on the independent television station STV, the rioting led to several injuries and 14 detentions.
The trouble began, according to STV, when a policeman in Maciana became drunk in the company of a civilian friend. The two then embarked on illegal patrols of the area, intimidating local people.
They intercepted one man in the middle of the night and ordered him to stop. He refused, and rang up his relatives to inform them of what was going on.
A crowd gathered which chased the drunken policeman and his friend, who sought refuge in the Maciana police station. The angry crowd demanded that the police hand over the two drunks, so that they could impose their own form of justice.
The guards at the police station refused to obey the demands of the crowd, which then attacked the police station. The police station, the nearby locality headquarters and a police vehicle were set on fire.
The head of the Public Relations Department in the Maputo Provincial Police Command, Rodrigues Chabana, said a commission of inquiry has been set up to ascertain the causes of the incident.
The policeman whose drunken behavior seemed to have sparked off the rioting has been detained, as have 14 others believed to have acted as ringleaders in the agitation.
As of Wednesday, the locality headquarters and the police station remained closed, although life in Maciana was said to have returned to normal.
There has been a recent history of violence in Manhica. Earlier this year, seven people, including three policemen, were abducted, tortured and buried alive, accused of belonging to a gang of cattle thieves.
(AIM)
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